Children's Books
Artemis Fowl is a children's/young adult book, and a pretty good one at that. Although I didn't find it quite as interesting as either Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials or Garth Nix's Sabriel, it was still good, and I liked the fact that the protagonist is an anti-hero. Ostensibly, he has no good qualities, although the author does managed to sneak some in there.
I particularly liked the way that the author, in the introduction and conclusion, goes out of his way to say what a bad person Artemis Fowl is, and how his actions should be taken in a way that is less altruistic than they may seem on the surface.
I was, however, quite disgusted by the dwarves. I guess Eion Colfer really doesn't like dwarves, as he makes them little better than Trolls. I was raised on Tolkein, and this is No Good. Ick.
The characters are good, the story is interesting, and the writing is good. It's a kid's book, but it's good, and well worth reading I think.
Artemis Fowl (2002)
Even though he is a "children's author", I still like his books.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), Danny, The Champion of the World (1975), The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (1977)
A Circle of Cats (2003) Illustrated by Charles Vess
I received this book for my birthday from Brian and Stacie. (THANKS!) I'd placed it on my wish list solely because it was written by Charles de Lint, and as usual, I wasn't disappointed.
A Circle of Cats is about Lillian, a girl who loves to wander in the woods, trying to see the faeries she knows are out there, but always failing. Every morning she leaves part of her breakfast for the Apple Tree Man who had been around for as long as Lillian's aunt remembered, but only Lillian believes that the Apple Tree Man is more than just a tree. It is only when danger strikes that Lillian learns that the magic she believes in, is truly real.
Some of the characters, such as the Apple Tree Man, are familar from Charles de Lint's other works, but prior knowledge is in no way necessary.
Except for the language, the story feels much like one Charles de Lint's short stories, although with fewer characters. As always this tale has the feel of a folk tale transplanted into modern times, although none of his tales are ones that I recognize.
Charles Vess has again done some lovely illustrations; his art always seems perfectly matched to the fairy tale like quality of the stories. (I also liked his illustration in his collaboration with Neil Gaiman on Stardust.
If you like Charles de Lint, then you'll most likely enjoy this story. My only issues is that I cannot remember whether an older Lillian appears in another Charles de Lint story with the Apple Tree Man. (Part of my mind thiks that the story may be 'Somewhere In My Mind There Is a Painting Box' but I'm not certain.)
The book is rated ages 8 and up.
The Spider and the Fly based on the tale by Mary Howitt.
We purchased this book for Wilson for his birthday, although Shawna says Wilson didn't like it as much. That could be because the book is a little to old for him, which I considered, but the decided that he'd eventually grow into it, and that it was better to get books as I found them, lest they be there no more. I, on the other hand, loved this book so much I bought myself a copy of it.
The poem is one with which we are all familar with at least the opening line "'Will you wak into my parlor?" Said the spider to the fly." Though it's been repeatedly misquoted and few know the rest of the poem. Thus is has been resurrected with the artwork of Tony DiTerlizzi.
And the artwork for this book is fantastic. The drawings are entirely in black and white, with no color, which may seem stark in description, but is absolutely perfect in execution. The fly is drawn as a 20s flapper (!), and the spider reminds me of every old black and white movie villian, right down to the pencil mustache.
I think, however, that my favorite part of the book is the depiction of the two 'ghost' bugs who toil endlessley to warn the fly away from the parlor of the spider, going to far as to hold up a copy of 'The Joy of Cooking Bugs' which amused me to no end.
There are sketches and art on the website, so you can get an idea for yourself of what the art is like, and whether it is to your taste or not.
But I don't think it's just me, for the book is a Caldecott Honor Book.
Wolves in the Walls (2003) with Dave McKean
I've been perusing the children's bookshelves recently, looking for gifts for our nephew Wilson, and discovered that an adult buying children's books doesn't get the strange looks I expected, so I have no problems purchasing Wolves in the Walls for myself, although I didn't tell this person at the register the book was for me. Let them think what they will.
Wolves in the Walls is collaboration between Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean. Neil Gaiman is, of course, one of my favorite writers, so that made this an easy choice. Dave McKean has worked with Neil Gaiman on various other projects, including the covers of the 'Sandman' collections.
The book tells the tale of Lucy, who tries to tell her family that there are wolves in the walls of their house, but no one believes her. The writing reminds me less of other books that Neil Gaiman has written, and more like the bits of prose that occasionally appear in his journal and delight me to no end.
"Anyway, you know what they say about wolves," said her father. "If the wolves come out of the walls, it's all over."
"Who says that?" asked Lucy.
"People. Everybody. You know," said her father, and he went back to practicing his tuba."
That brief exchange me reminds me both of everything that was so frustrating about talking to people. People frequently give children the quick and easy answer, assuming that they won't understand a more complicated answer, or have patience for a more complicated answer, and so children are frequently given an easy mean-nothing answer.
But if you think about it, the same holds true for adults. If you have ever questioned a practice at the office, you'll sometimes learn that why things are done the way they are, is simply because "that is the way they have always been done," and no one knows why. So perhaps we give children the easy answer, in the hopes that as adults they will accept the easy answer instead of asking the hard questions of "Why?"
The artwork is, like much of what I have seen of Dave McKean's work, dark, although this is much lighter than his 'Sandman' covers. It is a mixture of photographs and drawings, melded together. What is interesting is that the art used to depict Lucy and her family and her pig puppet is the more realistic photographic type depiction, while the wolves are drawn almost exclusively as black and white sketches, with minimal color and realism.
As far as a recommendation, I liked it, and whether being a child at heart makes that a good recommendation for an actual child, you'll have to decide for yourself.
Coraline (2002)
Coraline is a very good book, and being a young adult (whatever that means) book, it only took me a couple of hours to read. It's a little dark, but that's still a lot less dark than watching the news (something that kids don't do, although they probably should, except for the fact that it's all so depressing).
I particularly liked the way he worked out how she had to take care of things herself. She did the right thing of asking adults for help--it just happened not to work out, and for reasonable reason. (okay, perhaps not how it would have happened in reality, but it wasn't unreasonable.) I think that is important, because if a book is supposed to be based somewhat in our reality, the bits that happen in our reality should conform to the way things work. If it's an alternate reality, or a reality that exists beyond the reality we currently perceive, that's okay, but people in the "normal" reality should act like people on a "normal" reality.
And the point of all that rambling was the fact that Neil Gaiman's characters do that in Coraline. Otherwise, there are bits that are just gruesome enough that even though the book is about a female character, I think that smaller people of the male persuasion would like the book anyway. And of course for us adults, it's immaterial whether the lead character is a boy or a girl, what is important is that it's a good story, and as usual, that's what Neil Gaiman gives.
Wolves in the Walls (2003), Coraline (2002)
I actually read these when I was in college, and not when I was a "young adult". Excellent.
A Wrinkle In Time (1962), A Wind In the Door (1973), A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978)
Arthur A. Levine (permalink)
Paintings by Frederic Clement
The Boy Who Drew Cats
I first read this tale when I was in elementary school. It was one of the stories in my reading book (it was 4th, 5th or 6th grade, I can't remember for certain), and for some reason, this tale stuck with me. Several years ago, Erin found me a copy of the story in a small collection of Japanese folktales, and it was just as I had remembered. (For this, I am eternally grateful to Erin.)
A couple of years ago it came up when I was talking with Jim at the Bookshelf, and he remembered the tale, and said he had read a beautifully illustrated version, he'd see if he could order it. A couple of months later the book came in, and he said that he was disappointed that the illustrations were not what he remembered, and I was thoroughly disappointed and didn't buy the book. After all, I still had the tale in the collection Erin found.
However, I came across a used copy, and from the cover artwork, this was obviously not the book Jim had ordered, so I took a chance, and ordered the book it was used, but marked as in excellent condition. Then I just crossed by fingers and waited.
I have to say that I both love and dislike this version of the book. The paintings are wonderful I really love the artwork. Simply beautiful. However, the tale--as short as it is--deviates from the original in small buy significant ways, and I did not particularly care for the deviations. In this version, the boy is far less independent, and far less of a trouble-maker than in the tale I remembered. In this book the boy who loved to draw, drew cats at the request of the young priest in the temple, but in the other version of the tale, the boy loves to draw cats, and gets in trouble because he cannot help himself, and draws cats everywhere.
This, I think, has serious repercussions for the story. In the original tale, when the boy goes to the haunted temple, he sees the blank screens and paints cats upon them because he cannot help himself--it is what he loves to do. In this version of the story the boy seems much less likely to do this. It is, after all, vandalism in a temple where he would like to become an acolyte.
The original version is also far more bloody, and it was such detail that stuck in my mind all those years.
The artwork, however, makes the book well worth the purchase. So I'll just look through the book, enjoying the pictures, and tell myself the original story in my head, and at the end of the book, imagine the vivid details that stayed with me for so many years, that were unfortunately left out of this version.
(The story, with the ending I remember, can be found here)
Nelson Mandela(permalink)
Favorite African Folktales (2002)
This is a small but excellent collection of old and new African folktales.
In addition to the stories, the book tells where each tale is from, a little something about the creatures within, and the name of the translator or author of the story, and sometimes a bit about them as well.
All the stories were good, but there were some that I particularly liked.
I loved the story Asmodeus and the Bottler of Djinns. There are plenty of tales about how a demon or devil ends up outsmarted and stuck in a bottle, but there aren't many stories about how the devil gets back out again.
There are other stories that are familiar, with characters and plots that I've read before, but it's always fascinating to see how the same tale is different from culture to culture.
My favorite tale, however, may be the second tale of the book,The Cat Who Came Indoors, which started out familiar but had me laughing at the end. And to a cat person, the tale also seems about right.
I also love the little creature that lives beside, and looks towards, the page numbers throughout this book. I'm not exactly sure what kind of animal it is, but with its fingers, long tail, and beak, I'm sure that it has many interesting stories.
This really is a very good collection, and my only caveat is that, like many collections, not all tales are necessarily appropriate for younger children.
Please go to the L.A. Meyer page.
Bloody Jack (2002)
Please go to the Garth Nix page.
Sabriel (1997), Lirael (2002), Abhorsen (2003), Across the Wall (2005)
Where's My Cow? (2005)
If you like Terry Pratchett's Discworld, then you will definitely want to read this book.
First of all, it has an award, "Children's Winner of the Ankh-Morpork Librarians' Award. OOK!"
Also, it has blurbs on the back, "'...wonderfully instructive' Tuppence Swivel, the Times of Ankh Morpork" and "'...Are we not all, in some way, looking for our cow?' Brian Yeast, Ankh-Morpork Literary Gazette and Paradigm Shifters' Monthly"
And if that doesn't convince you, it's a book about Samuel Vimes reading a book to his one-year old son, Young Sam. With appearances by several Ankh-Morpork characters, such as Sergeant Detritus.
I love Samuel Vimes. He is my favorite Discworld character (followed closely by the Librarian. Ook!). And I love the fact that he comes home every night to read to Young Sam. That's exactly what I would expect from Samuel Vimes.
But that's not what's so great about this book. What's great about it is all the little details you'll notice as you read the book, like the cover of the book Samuel Vimes reads to Young Sam.
Is this book appropriate for those who don't know Discworld? Although they'll miss all the Discworld references (which is a big part of the fun) I think they'll enjoy the story within a story. But if you read Discworld, you won't want to miss this book.
Rating: 9/10
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (2001)
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents is one of Terry Pratchett's young adult books, are set in Discworld.
Talking cats, talking rats, and an appearence by Death (as well as by the Death of Rats). Aside from being slightly shorter normal, this is a typical Discworld book. Although there are two "young adults", the main characters are Maurice the cat, and the talking rats, especially Dangerous Beans and Peaches. (The rat's first reading material was old cans.)
I really like Maurice. He's quite cat-like in a way that Neil Gaiman's 'A Dream of a Thousand Cats" is cat-like, only funnier, and far less threatening.
Interestingly, although the rats and Maurice lived near the Unseen University, we never learn precisely why they developed their intelligence, and I'm curious as to whether Terry Pratchett left this up to our imaginations, or whether the reason is in one of the Discworld books on my "to read" list, or whether it's something I missed in an earlier book.
I think my favorite bits were the names of the rats: Peaches, Dangerous Beans, Sardines, Hamnpork, Nourishing. It was reminiscent of the names of the members of the Witchfinder's Army in Good Omens--but better.
I think this might be a good introduction to Discworld, for someone who knew nothing about it. There is mention of some of the important parts of Discworld, such as The Unseen University, the Watch, Death, and most importantly, The Death of Rats. You're introducted to the area and some of the main characters, but like every other Discworld story, is self-contained. You don't have to know anything about Discworld or Discworld characters to enjoy the story, but it whets the appetite for more stories.
Discworld:The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (2001), Where's My Cow? (2005)
Please go to the Philip Pullman page.
His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (1996), The Subtle Knife (1997), The Amber Spyglass (2000)
Please go to the J.K. Rowling page.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1998), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1999) , Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2001), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003), Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2005)
This is an absolutely beautiful book, that I picked up twice to give to our nephew (the second time I brought it home to put in the closet with all the other Christmas gifts, only to realize there was already a copy there.) This is a picture book, and the only words appear as part of the drawings.
The story is of a little boy on a school trip to the Empire State Building. The fog is thick on the observation deck, and his scarf, hat, and gloves seemingly disappear, stolen by a cloud. The cloud takes the boy on a trip to Sector 7, where clouds receive their orders. My favorite section is the station. It is a two page spread with arrival and departure times listed, just like an airport, and tunnels and gates, and lots of clouds and people wandering around looking busy, and the small cloud and his friends sneaking the little boy through the station. There is, of course, trouble, as they decide that traditional shapes are too boring and instead draw blueprints for fantastic creatures.
The drawings are quite beautiful, and the story is whimsical, but then I like whimsy.
Sector 7 (1999)